A new modelling study involving persons aged 40 to 75 years with no history of cardiovascular disease (CVD) suggests that 10-year risk thresholds used in current guidelines to prescribe statins for primary prevention of CVD are probably substantially too low. A new study published online Dec 3 2018, in the Annals of Internal Medicine has suggested that instead of 7.5% to 10% 10-year risks one should use 14% risk thresholds where the benefits of statins exceed the harms. Using an approach originally developed by the National Cancer Institute to look at tamoxifen for breast cancer prevention, the investigators show that statins provide net benefits at higher 10-year risks for CVD than are reflected in most current guidelines; 14% for men aged 40 to 44 years.
The risk threshold, however, increased to 21% for aged 70 to 75. For women, the risk thresholds were higher at 17% and 22%,…
